Syria and Russia Continue Coordinated Assault on Militants

October 8, 2015 12:37 PM

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BEIRUT, Lebanon — In a second day of a coordinated air and ground assault in Syria, Russian warplanes, Syrian troops and their militia allies attacked insurgents on Thursday in a contested area of Hama Province, next to Syria’s coastal mountains, a critical government stronghold.

The attacks, reported by insurgents and by a monitoring group, came as the Syrian Army’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Ali Abdullah Ayoub, declared sweeping goals for the new offensive via state-run news media, saying that government forces would capitalize on the Russian airstrikes with “a wide-scale at...